Hello!
I would like to learn the main differences between those two products. They have almost the same specs but my main concern is the LTE signal.
What are the conditions in order to choose the best device? LHG has 17dB antenna on the other hand ATL has 4x4 MIMO.
What to choose for having the best LTE signal and performance?
Thank you
Similar (well, identical) computer HW specs (CPU, memory etc.). Main difference is in the antennas - LHG uses a 2x2 Mimo configuration with antennas more tuned for higher frequencies, ATL apparently uses a 4x4 Mimo configuration and adds 2x2 Mimo antennas for the lower bands. I’ve deployed LHG(G) routers successfully and highly recommend them. I tend to replace their modems with Quectel jobs though, for B28 or U.S. bandplan compatibility. While marginal (the 2x2 antenna isn’t really tuned for B28), B28 compatibility would nonetheless be there.
I have yet to see and tear down a Cat18 Mikrotik device, so I’ll leave my own question for the MT team or those who have seen the Cat18 line ‘in the metal’: is the modem mPCIe or M.2? Is Mikrotik fitting m.2 connectors to these routerboards?
As the specs state “Number of M.2 slots: 1” I’d hazard a guess that they’re using M.2 slots 
Joining this thread beacuse I’m too in the need to choose one of them.
I’m in the mountains and it’s unlikely I can mount the antenna in the direct line of sight of the BTS.
On the roof I have signal but it’s too weak to have a decent link.
It is correct that when we can’t see the cell antenna a MIMO device as ATL would be better?
You need to know ideally the [rough] location of nearest tower/BTS to the location.
Tools like cellmapper.net can help know bands/distance to towers. Not exact, but gives sense of the bands in use in area and potentially how far away.
Pay attention to the LTE band too. Neither of this units would be good in North America, so should confirm the LTE bands from spec match what the carrier/MNO offer on the towers in your area.
They both of the same modem, so really just difference in antenna design.If your 10-20km to nearest tower, perhaps the LHG be better. But the ATL’s 4x4 MIMO is more likely to be faster if just a few km away to nearest BTS/tower.
Hello,
I’m in Europe (Italy), and I know the location of towers: there are 4 candidate towers (at 2.98, 3.4, 3.5, 4.83km) and the bands used are mostly (B3+B20) with one tower also using (B1+B7+B28); we are in the same main valley but not in direct sight of any of these towers because of the shape of the terrain.
Given this, I think the ATL can achive better results, am I right?
I can choose to point the ATL/LHG toward a pair of tower “uphill” or almost exactly in the opposite direction “downhill” toward the second pair of towers.
Thanks
They both of the same modem, so really just difference in antenna design.If your 10-20km to nearest tower, perhaps the LHG be better. But the ATL’s 4x4 MIMO is more likely to be faster if just a few km away to nearest BTS/tower.
i approve of this general guideline
Given this, I think the ATL should achive better results, am I right?
Like with all wireless things, there are too many unknown variables and only a real life comparison will get you an answer.
I don’t think the management approve to purchase every possible LTE antenna on the market and spend a year to test and compare the results.
without site survey with some measuring devices (or at least Cellmapper phone app survey tool) it’s hard to say what bands you can see, what signal levels there are, etc.
this is a good advice, I think can be done, can you recommend a valid app to measure the levels?
Andoid app “CellMapper”
I asked to do a quick survey of the site with a smartphone and they sent me these measures
RSRP: -104, -107
RSRO: -9, -7
Download (smartphone): 53 - 58 Mbps
Upload (smartphone): 2.6 - 2.8 Mbps
The tower joined was the one at around 3km with B1,B3,B7,B20,B28 enabled. The smartphone was using 1800+800+700.
Given this, it is possible to make a more resonable choice of the antenna capable of giving best results?
Those aren’t great signals & but still doing 50Mb/s using tiny 4x4 antenna… You upload certainly go up with either ATL or LHG, even without LOS.
If cost isn’t an issue the ATL would be better than LHG. If cost was concern, I’d just go with 2023-edition of SXT-LTE6 (which shares same modem as hAPax-Lite-LTE, which seems have good reviews, but only CAT6). I don’t think the 2x2 MIMO LHG LTE18 have much value if tower/BTS is ~3km away.
The price difference between ATL and SXT is not so big compared to all other costs of this “project” so I think we’ll go with ATL.
The 50Mbit/s of download is enough for an emergency internet connection, but it is possible to estimate the benefit for upload?
So many variables make prediction hard. But typically with a directional antenna, you will a noticeable improvement in upload from a smartphone. So if I had to guess, I think something in the range 5-20Mb/s for upload – but just a guess. If the ATL is mounted higher than where you tested with smartphone, you’d no doubt have better signal level (thus higher potential speeds).
But LTE is shared, so the amount of other users/traffic has a dramatic effect on speeds. For example, late afternoon/early evening vs. 3am can swing these numbers by orders of magnitude.
Thanks, I understand that LTE is shared and in our village there are often many people during weekend and holiday, and nobody in mid-season.
We’ll start trying to raise the current antenna installed by provider (wAP LTE KIT, very low performance, mandatory for voip, use a different carrier to the one I was considering, enough just for voip backup).
We are also evaluating other options.
I’ll come bak here when I have something interesting news.